Martin Luther King, Jr.

I read an opinion article in our newspaper the other day written by a black man who agreed that, not so much that today, as a holiday, should not be so, but that it should not be a day of 'no work', seeing as how most black people would not have the 'good jobs' they have, were it not for the civil rights movement and MLK, jr. ...

edgar, that was precisely my point. I think MLK was a great man, even though he did some stupid things in his private life. I very much REGRET that these sorts of stupid things are so much at the forefront of the current media/ political climate, and very much REGRET that said climate may keep some otherwise very talented people on the sidelines. I.e., they may have the skills, but also have skeletons in their closet, and don't even bother.

Sozobe
I have respect for your opinions. I was walking on eggs trying to not say it wrong and start a fuss. I think we agree on the point.

I do too. I'll say it more clearly, though, in case:



I do, too. But I wonder if men (and women) like him DO exist today... wonderful leaders, with incredible skills, who nonethless have less-than-perfect personal lives.



There I was blaming the current media/ political climate, not taking him to task for his personal life.

I see it now.
I am sure there are quite a few men of the same caliber alive today, but it takes the confluence of events and personality at just the right point in history for them to shine.

True.

I don't consider it political correctness (a term meant to disparage certain points of view, a term that usually makes me avoid a thread altogether) to have a Martin Luther King holiday. The holiday embodies not just the man, but all that has transpired in his name and all that went on at the same time he was active. It is the culmination of a movement in the search for human rights and dignity. King himself becomes the stuff of myth; thus, he, personally, is in some aspect removed to make room for the legend. It is a good legend.

I think that had he lived to this day, the media would have made him just as contravercial as Jesse Jackson is. Still I don't hold people's private lives against them.
I also question the need to shutdown on MLK Jr. Day. Good Friday, the anniversary of the death of Jesus, doesn't even get that kind of treatment. WWTRMLKJT. What would the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. think?

Anway I see MLK Jr. as a great man but one who was only part of the equation. Every successful revolution has had at least the threat of violence. Even when change occured non-violently, the threat of violence was a major motivating factor. India and Ireland are 2 examples and the civil rights movement was no different. Would it have been as successful without the threat posed by the militant elements of the movement who showed the public how far they would be willing to go if their demands were not met?

When you have a radical militant faction, the public is more likely to support the moderates. MLK Jr. was radical enough to effect change but moderate enough for the public to side with.

I also think that if MLK Jr. saw what was going on today, he may be dissappointed. We are still very much a segregated society. We're just more covert about it now. One can even say that African-Americans tried integration and it didn't work well. So they're volunterally segregating now.

Case in point; my family bought this house from a Chinese man who moved here in the 60's. He said that when he moved here the neighbors petitioned to get him out. 30 years later when we bought the house there was no petition but we're still the only minority in the neighborhood despite the huge boom in the Asian population less than 2 miles away.

The natural tendency of a people is to segregate themselves. We have to MAKE integration work not just allow its possibility. That's why I'm for affirmative action especially in colleges.

Yep. I agree.

Oh, that was with Edgar. LOL.

Not that I am saying i don't agree with Yelloman...

MLK calmly walked up to the police and their dogs, lifting not a hand when they clubbed him. He got the public on his side because he spoke the truth with courage, dignity and kindness. The civil rights laws were moving in the correct direction before the side elements of violence became overt in the movement. If anything, violence swamped the momentum by the time King was murdered, just as it cost the Peace Movement momentum concerning Vietnam. A lot of the violence was cooked up by the antagonistic elements of the government, a program to discredit the causes by sullying them with brutality and violence. Which is not to minimize the stupidity of certain true protestors who acted with violence also.
In an increasing climate of anti social progress it is certain MLK would have had an image problem. The very people his movement defeated are resurgent, while the common people are pushed back about where they were when Hoover was in office.

Late to the meeting; sorry.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his own words (speech and date cited where known):

Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.

I said to my children, "I'm going to work and do everything that I can do to see that you get a good education. I don't ever want you to forget that there are millions of God's children who will not and cannot get a good education, and I don't want you feeling that you are better than they are. For you will never be what you ought to be until they are what they ought to be.'

=====================

I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.

-- "Letter From Birmingham Jail ", 4.16.63

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

-- "The Trumpet of Conscience", 1967

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.

-- "Remaining Awake Through A Great Revolution ", 3.31.68

Whatever career you may choose for yourself -- doctor, lawyer, teacher -- let me propose an avocation to be pursued along with it. Become a dedicated fighter for civil rights. Make it a central part of your life. It will make you a better doctor, a better lawyer, a better teacher. It will enrich your spirit as nothing else possibly can. It will give you that rare sense of nobility that can only spring from love and selflessly helping your fellow man . Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to the noble struggle for human rights. You will make a greater person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in.

-- 4.18.59

Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided man.

-- "Strength to Love", 1963

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.

-- "The Trumpet of Conscience", 1967

Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.

-- MLK Jr. quoting Martin Luther

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

-- "Letter From Birmingham Jail ", 4.16.63

I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live.

-- 6.23.63

I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.

-- Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech , 12.10.64

If you succumb to the temptation of using violence in the struggle, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long and desolate night of bitterness, and your chief legacy to the future will be an endless reign of meaningless chaos.

-- "Justice Without Violence", 4.3.57

It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important.

-- Wall Street Journal, 11.13.62

Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.

-- "Strength to Love", 1963

Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.

-- "Strength to Love", 1963

The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But... the good Samaritan reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?"

-- "I've Been to the Mountain Top ", 4.3.68

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

-- "Strength to Love", 1963

The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.

-- "Strength to Love", 1963

The time is always right to do what is right.

-- "Letter From Birmingham Jail ", 4.16.63

PDiddie, Just as Frederick Douglas, I think King must have been born with the ability to orate. Those were dynamic quotes, and ones that we should keep in mind when we become bitter. There are heros on the battlefield, and there are heros on the streets. King was NOT an innocent martyr, but he was an inspiration to those who were.

Not an innocent martyr? He was culpable how?

edgar, When I said "innocent martyr" I meant not naive. And at the time, he was breaking the law, you know. He did so to call attention to the inherent evil in so many laws, not just the Jim Crow laws, but all laws that deny access to the common man.

Okay, then. I have to have things spelled out for me or I miss their meaning half the time.

No prob, edgar. I had to edit my last response a couple of times